Burial-vault.



Patented A115 (3, 1918.

G. KUEHN.

BURIAL VAULT APPLICATION FILED APR. 3,

IIIVEIVTOR; G a/SZZZU fizz/ 972 774 TE i GUSTAV KUEHN, OF EAST ST. LOUIS, ILLINOIS.

BURIAL-VAULT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 6, 1918.

Application filed April 3, 1916. Serial No. 88,667.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GUs'rAv KUEI-IN, a citizen of the United States, residing at East St. Louis, in thecounty of St. Clair and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Burial-Vaults, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relatesio improvements in burial vaults of a two-piece concrete type.

The object of my invention is: first, to provide a practical seal for uniting or knitting the cover to the casket receiving section; second, afford facilities for the proper adjustment of the cover upon the casket receiving section and the self-sealing of a suspended tongue integral with the cover in a converging angled groove formed in the upper face of the walls of the casket receiving section; third, to provide the tongue and groove with roughened faces or surfaces to permit the sealing substance to readily and positively set and adhere to the surfaces of the tongue and groove; and, fourth, to provide means for exhausting any noxious gases that may form Within the vault after having been sealed. 1

The above and other objects of the invention would appear hereinafter, reference being had to the accompanying drawing forming a part of the specification wherein like characters of reference denote similar parts throughout the several views. A

I attain the above and other objects by the structures illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of the vault cover.

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the casket receiving section of the'vault with the cover removed.

Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section of the casket receiving section of the vault and cover as sealed or united.

Fig. 4 is a detail illustrating the means for exhausting the noxious gases from the interior of the sealed vault.

Fig. 5 is a detail showin of the ton 1e and groove and concrete sea lng agent. he groove for containing the waterproof sealing agent being shown as unfilled.

In carrying outthe aim of my invention, I employ a two-piece concrete vault comprising the casket rceiving section 1 and the concrete cover section 2.

The casket receivin section 1 consists of the bottom 3, the si e walls 4, 4, and the end walls 5, 5. The upper portion of the side and end walls are somewhat thicker than the remainder of the walls, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2, thus forming a head ,6 around the top edge of section 1. I

A continuous converging groove 7 preferably having a curved or round seat 8 is formed in the upper face of the bead 6. The formation of this groove 7 provides the groove with the inner protecting wall 9 and the outer protecting wall 10. The outer groove protecting wall 10 it will be observed is somewhat higher than the upper edge of the inner wall 9, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. The object. of this wall 10 being higher than wall 9 will be clearly understood here inafter. The face of the groove 7 is preferably specially roughened or provided with indentations, as illustrated in the drawings, for the purpose of allowing green concrete to more readily adhere and knit thereto.

The cover section 2 consists essentially of the body portion 11 having a continuous depending tongue 12, which is adapted to register loosely with the groove 7 of the casket receiving section 2 when positioned. The tongue 12 is considerably less in thickness than the width of the groove at its most narrow point. The tongue 12 it will be observed occupies approximately one-thirdof the area of the groove 7, as illustratedin Fig. 3. The cover 11 is preferably provided, upon its inner face between the depending tongue 12, with the shoulder 13, which is adapted to seat upon the up er face of the inner groove protecting wal 9, as clearly shown in Fig. 3. This shoulder 13 also serves as a stop to prevent extreme downward movement of the tongue 12 should excessive pressure he brought to bear upon the cover in positioning the same upon the casket receiving section 1. The tongue 12 it will be observed suspends itself in the groove 7 and is not allowed to strike, enga e or rest in the bottom of the groove 7. The outer face of the cover 11 adjacent the upper end of the tongue 12 and continuous therewith, is preferably beveled as at 14, so as to provide an enlarged converging angled pocket or channel 15 which is formed after the cover 1 has been positioned, as is manifest. The beveled edge 14 is preferably roughened and the pocket or channel 15 is preferably adapted to be filled with a suitable waterproof compound, such for instance as tar, or its equivalent 16 after the cover 1 has been positioned.

Just prior to positioning the cover 11 and suspending the tongue 12 in the groove 7, suflicient plastic cement is placed in the groove 7 to fill the U shaped channel or space between the tongue 12 and the inner and outer groove protecting walls 9and 10, which U shaped channel is formed in positioning the tongue 12 in the converging angled groove 7 as is manifest. The groove 7 having the converging faces and the faces of the tongue 12, being preferably parallel with one another, permits theconcrete to easily and readily rise upwardly around the tongue 12 as force is being applied to the cover for positioning the tongue 12 in the bed of concrete which is adapted to act as a sealing agent for uniting the cover 2 with section 1. After the cover has been positioned, the tar, or its equivalents, is oured.

upon the green concrete until it has fil ed the converging angled channel 15. This waterproof substance 15 protects the green concrete from attracting moisture and water due to rains and swampy lands, until the concrete has thoroughly set and knitted itself with the walls 9 and 10 and the suspended tongue 12 of the cover 11. When the cover has been positioned and the chain nel l5 filled, it will be observed that I have formed a substantially J shaped seal or sealing agent between the walls 9 and 10 of the casket receiving section and the tongue 12 of the cover section 2.

It will be understood that before the cover has been positioned that there! is but one groove or channel 7, but when the cover has been positioned upon section 1 and-the groove or channel 7 has been filled with a concrete sealing agent a second channel 15 is formed between the outer groove protecting Wall 10 and the beveled edge 15 of the cover 2. The concrete filling agent in the groove 6 forming the bottom of the channel ,15 which is adapted to befilled with waterproof sealing agent for protecting the green concrete for uniting the cover 2 with section 1. a

As a means for exhausting the noxious gases from the interior of the vault after having been sealed, I employ a suitable goose-neck 17 which is provided at a suitable point with a suitable check valve 18.

amaze small openings 23 which permit any gases,

that may rise from the vault after having lifted check valve 18 and entered chamber 21, to escape from chamber 21 at a point near the top of the burial vault and not near the surfaceof the grave.

What I claim is:

A burial vault comprising a casket re-.

ceiving section and a cover section, said casket receiving section having a continuous approximately V-shaped channel formed in its upper face to provide a channel which is wider at its top than at its base for the reception of a cement fillin the u peredge of the inner wall of said 0 annel eing ina uniform plane considerably below the plane of the outer wall' of said channel and.

adapted to act as a stop upon which the cover section is adapted to seat, said cover section having a continuous tongue of even diameter throughout dependin outer edgethereof and adapts tion therewith and held from engagement with the bottom of the channel due'to thecover section resting upon the inner Wall of the channel, said channel when filled with the cement filling is adapted to unite the cover tengue with the inner and outer walls of 1 6 u i. pended in said channel in concentric relafrom the wall of the aforesaid V-shaped channel and the outer edge of the cover section and above the cement filling after the cover section has been positioned upon the casket receiving section, said. sealing channel adapted to be filled with the sealing agent to protect the cement filling from attracting moisture before the cement filling has set.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name to the specification.

GUSTAV KUEHN. 

